are you thinking about gifts for the holidays yet? it still feels early to me, but i made my first purchase for the kids this morning. i'm not much of a shopper usually--i get overwhelmed by crowds and choices (not to mention tiny-house-more-stuff syndrome, and the expense) so i tend to avoid it as much as possible. then the holidays come around and there's all this (self-induced) pressure to buybuybuy! just.the.right.thing. i confess. i can get a bit...crazy.
to try to keep the consumerism + my stress level at a minimum, i strive to abide by the following guidelines:
1) children may ask santa for ONE thing.
2) when shopping for children use this rule of thumb: one thing they want, one thing they need (our tradition is new shoes), one thing i made, one thing to read.
3) shop online as much as possible.
4) buy the grandparents the same thing every year.
5) avoid shipping costs + trips to the post office by sending gift cards to out-of-towners.
do you have any other anti-stress holiday shopping tips? i'd love to hear them.
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